MONDAY KETCHUP: Elon isn't liable, Elon might be liable, Elon is tired, CEOs aren't viable, and Nazis are shooting your lights out

Live from the ESG Ivory Tower, it’s a Musky Monday edition of Business Pants. Joined as always by our Lord of the BS, Matt Moscardi, I’m still here…. In today’s ESG-dipped ooze called February 6, 2023: Sexy Updates and… sleazy advertising in the form of pedestrian data analysis!

DAMION1

Updates:

1. Musk

1. Elon Musk is being investigated by the SEC for Tesla self-driving claims

1. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is facing scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding his specific comments and efforts to promote the automaker’s claims regarding its “self-driving” capabilities, Bloomberg reports. The SEC investigation into Musk is part of its overall efforts to determine whether Tesla has run afoul of its rules in promoting its FSD and Autopilot offering.

2. Last week, testimony given by a senior engineer on the Tesla team working on its Autopilot software revealed that a video the company released in 2016 purporting to show a Tesla vehicle driving itself was in fact staged. Reporting by Bloomberg later revealed that the video was overseen and directed by Musk himself.

2. Jury finds Musk, Tesla not liable in securities fraud trial following ‘funding secured’ tweets

1. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was found not liable in a shareholder class-action suit stemming from 2018 tweets in which he said he was considering taking Tesla private.

2. The Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter CEO was sued by Tesla shareholders over a series of tweets he wrote in August 2018 saying he had “funding secured” to take the automaker private for $420 per share, and that “investor support” for such a deal was “confirmed.”

3. Musk later claimed that he had a verbal commitment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and thought funding would come through at his proposed price based on a handshake. However, the deal never materialized.

4. Elon Musk says he is 'deeply appreciative' of the jury that cleared him in the Tesla trial, tweeting 'Thank goodness'

1. "The wisdom of the people has prevailed!" the billionaire added. "I am deeply appreciative of the jury's unanimous finding of innocence in the Tesla 420 take-private case."

3. ‘Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone’: Elon Musk confides of toll from working morning, day and night to run Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX

1. Running three companies at once is beginning to take a toll on his 

2. Not only did he need to work extra hard to save Twitter from bankruptcy, he also was required to perform essential duties at Tesla and SpaceX. In November, during an investor conference with Tesla bull Ron Baron, Musk described his punishing schedule of waking up, working non-stop and then sleeping seven days a week.

3. This meant his usual 70-80 hour work weeks had to be ramped up to “probably 120“. By that estimation, Musk would need to compress all the time needed for sleeping, eating, relaxing and other tasks like hygiene into a combined seven hours a day—a superhuman regimen that could prove damaging for one’s health.

4. “Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone,” he confided to Twitter users on Feb. 5. When one urged him to take care, Musk responded with “I’m worried about me too” and a frowning-face emoji.

2. The unemployment rate is at its lowest since 1969

1. The US added over half a million jobs and unemployment fell in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2. It's a big surprise, well above estimates, and shows how strong the labor market continues to be.

3. US stocks fall after blockbuster January jobs report suggests more hawkish Fed moves ahead

3. Fun CEO stuff

1. The energy giant whose boss was poisoned with cyanide is looking for a new CEO — a role described as 'impossible' and the 'worst job in global energy'

1. South Africa's energy giant Eskom has published a job advert for a new CEO. 

2. Eskom's current CEO was poisoned with cyanide in December after submitting his resignation. 

3. The role was described by current CEO Andre de Ruyter as "impossible" and the 'worst job in global energy'

2. Nearly 2,000 CEOs think their companies won’t be able to make money in 10 years, survey says

1. Nearly 2,000 CEOs recently polled by accounting and consulting firm PwC say their company won’t be “economically viable” within the next decade, without changing its current path. That’s almost 40% of the total number of CEOs surveyed across 105 countries for PwC’s annual global CEO survey. 

2. They’re worried for a host of reasons. More than half of the CEOs surveyed cited shifts in consumer demand, regulatory changes and labor shortages as challenges to their profitability over the next 10 years.

3. Forty-nine percent worried about technologies like artificial intelligence slashing their profits, 43% said supply chain disruptions will continue to be a threat, and nearly a third worried about competitors from outside industries entering their field.

3. Adani had a handful of auditors as young as 23 years old signing off on companies worth $100 billion, Hindenburg says

1. Adani Group used auditors as young as 23 to sign off on accounts, Hindenburg said.

2. The industrial giant used Shah Dhandharia, which had 11 employees, to audit companies worth $100 billion, per Hindenburg.

3. Adani said all its auditors had been certified and qualified by the appropriate statutory bodies.

4. Stephanie McMahon 'resigned as WWE co-CEO because she doesn't need the money and was due to be DEMOTED by the return of her father Vince... who appointed himself back to the board following alleged misconduct investigation'

1. Vince returned to the WWE board of directors after a misconduct investigation

2. Stephanie had stepped into the role of co-CEO when her dad retired last July

4. Dystopia

1. ChatGPT could be used by 'bad actors' and should be regulated, OpenAI's chief technology officer Mira Murati says

1. The chief technology officer at ChatGPT creator OpenAI said the tool could be used by "bad actors."

2. The chatbot's popularity means "it's not too early" to regulate it, Mira Murati told Time magazine. 

3. "There are questions about how you govern the use of this technology globally," she added.

2. OpenAI founder Sam Altman says he can imagine ways that ChatGPT ‘breaks capitalism’

1. In his interview with Forbes, Altman said he still believes OpenAI can balance between its goal of democratization and its new moneymaking interests. “I think capitalism is awesome. I love capitalism,” he said, adding that while he sees capitalism as the best economic model out of a bad bunch, he still hopes “we find a way better one.”

2. He reiterated the idea that no single company should own artificial intelligence and hoard its benefits, and added that he is doing everything he can for OpenAI to avoid becoming that.

3. “We've tried to design a structure that is, as far as I know, unlike any other corporate structure out there,” he said. “If we really, truly get AGI and it breaks, we'll need something different [in company structure].”

3. It sounds like Google will unveil its ChatGPT clone February 8

1. Google wants to use "the power of AI to reimagine how people search."

2. Everybody panic! Next week Google is hosting what can only be described as an "emergency" event. According to an invite sent to The Verge, the event will revolve around "using the power of AI to reimagine how people search for, explore and interact with information, making it more natural and intuitive than ever before to find what you need"—in other words, Google's going to fire up its photocopier and stick OpenAI's ChatGPT onto the platen. The 40-minute event will, of course, be live on YouTube on February 8.

3. Google's parent company, Alphabet, had its earnings call yesterday, and Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai promised that “very soon people will be able to interact directly with our newest, most powerful language models as a companion to Search in experimental and innovative ways.” Earlier this year, the company declared a "code red" over the meteoric rise of ChatGPT and even dragged co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin out of retirement to help.

5. Wars

1. US takes down Chinese spy balloon over Atlantic Ocean, seeking to recover debris

1. The US has taken down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic.

2. The balloon earlier on Saturday had been detected over South Carolina near the Atlantic Ocean.

3. An operation is currently underway to recover fragments of the balloon.

2. Activision Blizzard was fined $35 million for neglecting employee complaints

1. The settlement marked the end of an extensive SEC investigation

2. Activision Blizzard agreed to pay a settlement worth $35 million after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused the popular video game developer of failing to properly address complaints of workplace misconduct. Federal regulators also alleged that the company violated whistleblower laws by requiring employees to provide notice if they received a request for supplementary information from the SEC.

3. “Taking action to impede former employees from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal,” Jason Burt, director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office, said in a statement.

4. In paying the settlement, Activision is not admitting nor denying the SEC’s findings. Activision’s representatives expressed satisfaction at solving the matter “amicably” in a statement.

6. From Nike to Nutella: Company names you have probably been mispronouncing your whole life

1. Adidas

2. Allianz

3. Hermès

4. Huawei

5. Hyundai

6. Ikea

7. Nike

8. Porsche

9. Volkswagen

MATT1

It’s time for an installment of BS Questions from our rabid listeners.

Today’s question is from Lynn in North Carolina, she wrote: “I saw a headline this morning about neo-Nazi’s attacking power substations in my state - who should I blame for not putting up a sign that says, ‘Neo-Nazis, keep out’ on the fences surrounding our power grid?”

Lynn, an excellent question - here’s the headline she’s talking about out of Business Insider: Attacks on power grids plunged thousands of Americans into darkness, as authorities worry neo-Nazis are targeting critical infrastructure

Here’s your BS answer: Duke Energy!

BS says:

1. The board is young enough to know what electricity is

1. Duke’s board influence weighted age is roughly in line with the US average at 63 years old (the average is 62)

2. They are not male and stale

1. 5 women on a 14 person board own just over 50% of the influence. Lynn Good is the vast majority of that as CEO and Chair.

2. The longest tenured directors are Good and Marie McKee, who have been there for 10 years.

3. But they’re too distracted to remember they have day jobs

1. 10 of the 14 directors are sitting on more than one board, including the CEO who is on 3 boards

4. And no one’s there to rock the boat

1. 9 of the 14 members are connected to each other, the worst being Lynn Good herself connected to 8 other board members through friends or friends of friends, and Webster Dunbar who’s also got 8 BFFs.  The BFF cohort owns 80% of the board influence

5. The board committee that oversees “no Nazi” signage is weak and lame

1. The five members of the Operations and Nuclear Oversight Committee have a combined 19% influence, and Webster Dunbar is on FIVE boards currently

BS recommends: vote out John Herron, the chair of the Operations and Nuclear Oversight Committee and replace him with a black woman who has security and tech/hacker experience.  We found her: Shellye Archambeau, a board member at the security firm Okta who is a tech exec, usually the smartest in the room, and she didn’t go to Stanford.